Failed Orbital Mission Loses Human Remains, Space Pot

A spaceship carrying the remains of more than 160 people crashed into the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, June 24, which made it possible to lose its content at sea. The mission intended to return the remains to the families who provided them following a brief passage in space, but now, they will never be reviewed again.

On Monday, June 23, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the carpooling mission Transport-14 from the Vandenberg Space Force base in California, transporting 70 useful charges in orbit on low land. The largest was NYX, a 1.6-ton back-to-school capsule (1.45-meter meter) produced by The Exploration Company, a German aerospace startup. Nicknamed “possible mission”, it was the first attempt of the company to transport useful charges of customers, taking around 660 pounds (300 kilograms) of freight during a trip around the earth. This included ashes and DNA of more than 166 who died provided by Celestis, a commemorative space -flight company based in Houston, Texas. Although Nyx managed to reach the orbit, its parachute system failed during the start of the school year, according to Celestis.

“Following this unforeseen event, we believe that we will not be able to recover or return the flight capsules on board,” the company said in a press release. “We share the disappointment of our families and we offer our most sincere gratitude for their confidence.”

Although the mission has reached several key stages – including a successful launch, an orbit and a controlled back -to -school – Velestis has acknowledged that its unsuccessful landing marks a significant personal loss for participating families. “In the coming days, our team will contact each family individually to provide support and discuss the next possible steps,” said the company.

“Although we currently believe that we cannot return the flight capsules, we hope that families will find peace knowing that their loved ones were part of a historic journey, launched in space, in orbitry, and are now resting in the immensity of the Pacific, similar to a traditional and honored dissemination of the sea.”

This is not the first time that a Celestis mission has not been as planned. In May 2023, an UP aerospace rocket bearing the The incinerated remains of a late NASA astronaut have exploded A few seconds after takeoff of the desert of the New Mexico. The rocket also carried more than a dozen useful charges of student experience for NASA.

In a press release published on social networks on Tuesday, the exploration company considered the possible mission of a “partial success”, explaining that the capsule managed to fuel its useful charges in orbit, to stabilize after separating from Falcon 9, to enter the atmosphere of the earth and to restore communications after the short breakdown.

“But he encountered a problem thereafter, on the basis of our best current knowledge, and we lost communication a few minutes before splashes,” said society. “We are always investigating deep causes and will soon share more information. We apologize to all our customers who have entrusted us with their useful expenses. ”

In addition to human remains and other useful charges, the NYX has worn cannabis provided by Martian Grow, an open source citizen scientific project. The project, which finally aims to cultivate marijuana on Mars, obtained a place on the NYX to send seeds and plant materials to a low orbit and to study how microgravity affects their germination and their resilience. “Cannabis is resilient, versatile and biologically complex, which makes you ideal for studying how life adapts to extreme environments such as space or March,” says the Martian Grow website.

Unfortunately, cannabis was lost at sea with the rest of the useful charges of NYX. Gizmodo contacted Martian Grow to comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

The possible mission was the second flight of the exploration company. The first, Mission Bikini, launched a smaller back -to -school capsule on the first Ariane 6 flight in July 2024. The upper rocket stadium underwent an anomaly which prevented it from launching the capsule in its reintegration trajectory, leaving it trapped in orbit with bikini still attached.

This week’s mission was more ambitious, testing both the back -to -school technologies and all the technologies that support the NYX, which is designed to finally transport the cargo to and from the low orbit. Future iterations of this spaceship could even be used to transport crews in space, according to SpaceNews.

This week’s crash highlights the awareness that Nyx will not be ready to pilot astronauts anytime soon. Victor Maier, in chief Germany and the central European activities of the exploration company, told SpaceNews that the company did not intend to carry out additional test missions before a demonstration flight from the NYX to the international space station in 2028. This mission is awaiting support from the European Space Agency. The exploration company will however examine the ground tests for some of the subsystems of the spaceship, said Maier.

Tuesday’s Declaration of the company suggests the opposite. “Taking advantage of the technical stages affected yesterday and the lessons that we extract from our current investigation, we will then prepare to relive as soon as possible,” he said.